Monday, March 12, 2007

Saturday, January 14, 2006Agudath Israel Permits "Dialogue" With Catholics Only To Protect Sexual Predators, All Other Interfaith Dialogue Is Prohibited!

Religious Groups Stall Reform Law by DOUGLAS MONTERO The New York Post - August 1, 2001, Wednesday

A strongly backed bill that would make it a crime if educators fail to report an accusation of school sex abuse to the police is being stymied by two of the city's most powerful religious organizations, City Hall sources told The Post.

Bill No. 933, inspired by several mishandled complaints in public schools, would require cops to investigate allegations of sex abuse involving private schools run by churches and temples as well as public schools.

The law could set the stage for a battle between church and state because both Catholic and Jewish schools deal with sex-abuseallegations against clerics internally, experts said.

City Hall sources admit they were surprised by the religious groups' 11th-hour request to postpone the vote in the City Council's Education Committee on June 4.

"They [religious schools] claim they were unaware that the provisions of the law applied to both public and private schools," one source said.

Council staffers are quietly negotiating with a coalition of religious groups hoping to tailor the bill to fit everyone's demands - a delicate process during an election season.

When told the law covers "co-curricular and extra-curricular activities" such as prayer groups or kids helping out in religious ceremonies, New York Archdiocese spokesman Joe Zwilling seemed surprised.

"I'm not sure the law covers that," Zwilling said, who refused to say if the church supported the bill.

Zwilling insisted the bill applies to clerics working only in schools, but a second City Hall source said it reaches into "all of the properties on school grounds."

Zwilling referred questions to Rabbi David Zwiebel, of the Agudath Israel of America, a Jewish advocacy network that's spearheading talks with council.

Zwiebel argues the bill is too broad in its definition of abuse, and thinks it will strip school principals of their"professional discretion" to resolve disciplinary problems internally.

The failure to let principals "exercise professional judgment and discretion in dealing with actual or threatened criminal conduct is a serious flaw," he wrote in a five-page June 28 letterto Council Speaker Peter Vallone and committee members.

Zwiebel said the law could create "tensions" between church and state.

The committee is scheduled to have a hearing on the matter in the fall.

"The new legal mandate is not embraced by everyonebecause it is designed to change the usual way of doing business for the protection of children," a mayoral administration source said.

"Because of the delay, the window for getting this in place by September is closed - and that's a terrible shame."

All Rabbis Back Law To Report Child Abuse Except Ultra-Urthodox Agudath Israel

By Rachel Donadio The Forward (NY) March 29,2002

With the exception of a major ultra-Orthodox organization, rabbinical groups of all denominations say they support proposed legislation in New York State that would require clergy to report allegations of child abuse.

The proposal, which would broaden the state's Social Services Law to make clergy of all religions criminally liable if they do not report instances of child abuse, was advanced last week by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau in the wake of growing allegations of molestation within the Catholic Church. This week, the Democrat-controlled State Assembly proposed similar legislation, and a version passed in the Republican-controlled State Senate.

Most rabbinical groups said they were not concerned that the legislation would violate confidentiality between clergy and congregants.

"I think that full disclosure to the authorities would be not only acceptable, I think it's imperative," said Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice president of the Reform movement's Central Council of American Rabbis. "Ethical violations, whether they're violations of the criminal code or not, need to be dealt with very openly, fairly and directly by each denomination. Anything short of that is not keeping faith with our people."

The ultra-Orthodox group Agudath Israel of America, however, said it was wary of the legislation, which would require clergy to "report to authorities whenever they have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused," according to a March 19 statement by Morgenthau.

David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Aguda, said he feared that the proposal could infringe on "religious freedom."There ought to be some exemption for situations involving confidentiality," Zwiebel said. "To protect the Catholic confessional-type situation, and more specifically in our community, to protect those situations where a member of the community does want to confide in his rabbi and get guidance and counseling without fear of having the whole fury of the secular legal system descend on him."

Last summer, Aguda and the Catholic Archdiocese of New York joined forces to oppose a proposed bill in the City Council that would have required all schools, including parochial schools, to file a police report about any criminal act committed by students or staff. Zwiebel said he was concerned that secular law would "not necessarily" respect religious concerns, such as the concept of mesira, a category of rabbinic canon law concerning when a Jew may inform on another to the secular government. He said that rabbis should evaluate issues "on a case-by-case" basis.

However, Zwiebel said, "if a person is perceived as an imminent danger to children or others, rabbis would say, `let's not handle this internally, let's bring it to outside authorities.'"

Looking more favorably on the legislation was the Orthodox Union, representing Modern Orthodox synagogues. "In principal we'd be supportive," said Harvey Blitz, president of O.U. "We believe that clergy have a responsibility to protect the safety of people from being victims."

"We were told by our Halachic authorities that we should without any type of delay report these instances to the police," said Steven Dworkin, the head of the Rabbinical Council of America, a Modern Orthodox rabbinical body, referring to religious law.

Two years ago O.U. faced its own abuse scandal when several top officials stepped down following claims that they ignored 30 years of abuse complaints against the director of its national youth group, Rabbi Baruch Lanner.

Blitz was unfazed by the thought that under the proposed legislation, O.U. clergy would have been criminally liable for ignoring allegations of abuse. "Maybe they would have reported it," Blitz said.

"We've tried very hard to change the culture at the O.U. in light of what happened" and make children feel "more comfortable" reporting abuse and leaders "more sensitive" to allegations, Blitz said.

Rabbi Joel Myers, president of Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly, also said he supported the proposal.

Myers said clergy confidentiality was not as "cut and dry" as some would make it out to be. "Every rabbi knows not everything is confidential or ought to be," he said. "Many clergy will say, `I'll be glad to listen but I won't be able to tell you if it's confidential until you tell me what the issue is.'"

The church scandal "may have nothing to do with confidentiality," Myers said. "Confidentiality becomes a nice sounding word, but that's not the issue. The issue is how bishops supervise priests."

"It is clear that social pressures on the clergy are such that transferring the obligation to enforce justice onto the legal system is a helpful step," said Rabbi David Teutsch, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

The New York Post March 26, 2002, TuesdayIT'S NOT JUST CATHOLICS WHO HAVE TO WORRY By Douglas Montero

THE panic has begun.

Religious organizations went into a frenzy yesterday after learning state legislators introduced two bills that would require them to call authorities whenever one their clerics is accused of molesting a kid.

But, it's far from just a Catholic problem.

"Sex abuse suppression in the Orthodox Jewish clergy is much worse than the Catholics because it's such an insular community and they can get away with it," according to Amy Neustein, who says she was ostracized by her community after she began advocating for Jewish women and kids. She called the problem of child molestation by the clergy and the invariable coverup in her community a "cancer."

An official at the Agudath Israel of America - an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group that helped exorcise a similar City Council bill last year - seemed skeptical the bills would do much good.

"There may be a situation where there might be a conflict between the law and what a rabbi feels is religiously appropriate," said David Zwiebel, its vice president for government affairs.

"Rabbis might react differently. Some will comply with the law and others will choose not to comply with the law."

Bishop Steven Bouman, who heads the city's Lutheran Church, insisted he "absolutely" supports the bills. "I believe the primary responsibility of church officials and the church is to the people we serve - especially the most vulnerable," he said.

But when asked to describe his church's sex-abuse policy, he said he had to check his facts. He called back an hour later and referred questions to the church's lawyers.

Religious leaders are nervous.

The days of conducting their own internal, and possibly biased, investigations before calling cops may be over soon.

It's appropriate that the sex-reporting bills were introduced during the start of Holy Week.

"It's Lent, and Christ is giving the Church a big cross to bear - one that it has earned," said Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League.

But he said his church has plenty of company.

"I've always felt the Catholic Church doesn't have a monopoly on this issue," he said.

UOJ COMMENTS:

The protection of the criminal predators by the Agudah has been ongoing and covert for years.

They are the ONLY Jewish organization actively blocking any legislative agenda that would protect our children in yeshivas. Their natural ally is of course the Catholicswho have paid out billions of dollars in claims to their victims. Perhaps civil litigation can be brought against the organizations and their extensive real estate holdings? If Lipa Margulies was in danger of losing his entire block of real estate on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, perhaps he would feel differently about protecting Yudi Kolko.

Various different catholic organizations were forced into bankruptcy because of the many civil judgements that were obtained against them.

This requires the victims and their families to come forward and assist us in our efforts to nail these criminals.

They obviously could not give a hoot about their reputations; let's hit them in their pockets and anywhere else that it hurts.

Tendler-Like Teacher Says He Only Pursued Students After School!

World's Greatest Criminal Mugshots!

If Your Child Gets Raped - Go First To Your Rabbi - די באַסטערדז!

For My Israeli Readers! צפייה ביקורתית של יהדות אורתודוקסית

CLICK!

Mazel Tov - Rabbi Hershel Schachter!

CLICK ABOVE PHOTO! Rabbi Moshe Feinstein states the very marriage of a gentile woman to a non observant Jew, is equivalent to an open declaration that she will not observe the precepts. This is so, because it is highly unlikely that the gentile member of such a union, will be more committed to Judaism than her remiss Jewish husband (certainly when they are living together prior to their marriage). Unlike mental or tacit negations, explains Rav Feinstein, open declarations do invalidate conversions. When such cases appear before a rabbinical court, its members actually become witnesses to an acceptance declaration that is not sincere. Therefore, it is no longer a tacit insincerity, but rather an obvious one. As such, they are forbidden to sanction the conversion. Regardless of what this Jewish court may declare, the conversion is invalid and the person is not deemed a member of the Jewish nation. In Iggros Moshe, Letters of Moshe (Yoreh De’ah, no. 157), he writes that “According to the Law, it is certain that one who converts for the sake of marriage, does not intend to keep the commandments, and is not a proselyte at all.”

The Tendler Disease in the News - Again!

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Child Molestor is Castrated in Plea Deal!

CLICK ON CUT 'EM OFF TENDLER!

We Are In A Time When The Sheep May No Longer Trust The Shepherds!

CLICK!

Tendler Country - Ex - High School Principal Gets 8 Years For Molesting Students!

New Square Appoints Vaad To Deal With Sexual Abuse!

Lakewood Kollel Opens In Senegal!

Scandals Tests Trust in Leadership!

Rabbi Matt Salomon Offers The Pope His Help!

CLICK ON PHOTO!

Oy! Does He Have A Headache!

CLICK ON YOSEL!

Child Abuse - Chipping Away At The Wall Of Silence!

CLICK ON BRIDGE - FOR SALE AT THE AGUDATH ISRAEL!

Rav Yosef Blau Shlita

***CLICK ON PHOTO!*** "Batei Din in our times are not effective in dealing with criminal behavior. Lacking the investigative arm of the police and having restrictive standards of testimony they can not establish guilt. When the culprit is charismatic, he can often get protégés who feel indebted to him to lie to the Beis Din. It takes years before those who have been abused as youngsters to openly face their abuser."

Kolko's Office Sign - Auctioned On eBay!

I'm a bit concerned about Ehud - he can't seem to keep his hands off of me!

Ehud asked me to pardon him!

Looks like George has been hangin' with Bill Clinton!

I look into your eyes --- and I see a rotten crook!

Did you hear the one about the rabbi & the priest? Rabbi Kolko penetrated the priest (oh father)...